I have just come back from doing an piece for 5 Live with Edwina Currie on Alastair Campbell's diaries. It was ostensibly to preview the 3 part BBC2 series which starts tonight. I had, in my naivety assumed that it was a three part documentary on Campbell and his reign of terror at Number Ten, but it seems I was wrong. The BBC, in its infinite wisdom, has paid a production company several hundred thousand of your licence fee payer pounds to make a three part puff for Campbell's diaries. Apparently, all it consists of is Campbell reading out extracts of his book. There are no interviews, no contextualisation, no analysis - nothing apart from Campbell reading out his book. Well excuse me while I go and watch paint dry, instead.
I can think of no one who book the BBC has publicised more than Alastair Campbell. I can think of no one who has ever had a full half an hour interview in the 8.10 slot of the Today Programme. I can think of no one who would be allowed three programmes simply to read their book out on prime time BBC2.
Is this the BBC's way of saying sorry?
Ironically, for Campbell it may all backfire. Campbell didn't do a newspaper serialisation, but the effect of all this publicity may be the same. If people think they have heard all about the book and know what's in it, they are unlikely to go out to a bookshop and spend £25 on buying it. Having said that, it is number 3 in the Amazon charts, so it can't be doing all that badly.
Experience tells me, however, that this book won't have legs. Some books sell large numbers in the first week of publication then barely sell a copy afterwards. Others have slower sales at the beginning of the sales cycle but will still be selling decent numbers six months later. I suspect Campbell's book falls into the first category.
If it is the BBC's way of saying sorry, it is long overdue.
ReplyDeleteThe programme does sound less than compelling. However, I don't believe this is all part of some BBC plot to do Campbell a big favour. I mean, why would they? He doesn't wield any power now.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Today interview goes, it was pretty clear they had him on so that Humphrys could give another airing to his Iraq/Gilligan/dossier obsession.
I think the coverage is a bit OTT and the programme if necessary should surely be on the radio. Having said that I think Campbell is always good value in interviews etc whichever side you are on (same as Kelvin McKenzie).
ReplyDeleteBTW is it my imagination or does Iain have a little Google ad for extracts from the diary - beneath the next blog entry?
I would urge everyone not to pay their license fee in protest. This man is a liar, a proven liar and it is a disgrace that the BBC is using public money to promote his grubby diary.
ReplyDeleteI would rather set light to 25 quid than give it to this scumbag
Steve
ReplyDeleteI don't control what Google Ads appear - there was one saying nice things about Gordon Brown the other day too!
I'm not sure those figures are as high as reported in the Daily Mail this morning: http://newscounter.com/fullStory.jsp?id=496903
ReplyDeleteIt is becoming easier by the day to avoid all BBC output. For how much longer can they go on taxing us for not sniffing their torrent of sewerage?
ReplyDeleteApparently Campbell will be publishing a full un-expurgated version of the diaries sometime in the future. So the people involved won't be embarassed whilst still in public life. This is the version I'll be buying.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC are saying they aren't paying Campbell to do the program. They've paid an independent production company and they've paid Campbell. So that's clear then.
Bluntly, Campbell is scum- and the BBC has slid even further down in my estimation by paying this scum for the serialisation of his diaries. I see Campbell says he thought of committing suicide over DK. If he was 100% correct- why? Me-thinks he's just given himself away. As a fan of political diaries- Benn, Crossman, and Brandreth- i will not pick up this scum's 'book'.
ReplyDeleteWell excuse me while I go an watch paint dry, instead
ReplyDeleteI only got the book last night, but the first 80 pages are more interesting than anything I've ever read on this blog.
Re: the Kelly episode. Campbell is reported as saying he was very worried about explaining his diary entries of the time. But when it came to the hearing itself 'they (the entries) weren't as damming as I expected'.
ReplyDeleteBut surely he knew what he meant when he wrote those entries? They reflect what he thought at the time, irrespective of later interpretation. Methinks the Lord Hutton, naive soul that he is, didn't realise what he had in front of him.
Balderdash and piffle Iain! I certainly would not go hanging my colours to the mast of Campbell floppiness from the Tory Bookseller by appointment to CCHQ!
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you what Ali should do if he wants obscurity and derision. he should cross the floor and become a Tory after a lifetime in the Labour ranks.
That should do the trick.
Reading some extracts on TV will not.
And if you've got £25 to burn please do give it to that nice Gurcharan Singh to fight for, literally fight for, a free -istan of his own.
simon; completely agree. Of all the characters that came and went over the Blair years, Alaster Campbell is the one that has no redeeming qualities. he really is a nasty manipulative piece of s**t. Like a petulant teenager he claims to have contemplated suicide (look at me everyone), well here's a thought, if he'd have followed through perhaps politicians and politics in general would be better thought of by the public today.
ReplyDeletePeople are saying that the book is highly readable, which is no less than you would expect from someone who got to the top of populist media.
ReplyDeleteThe facts are that this is a man with mental health problems, who was a powerful unelected actor in the Bliar odyssey, who regularly bullied and brow beat all who got in his way, whose actions, by his own admission, were a material factor in the death of Dr Kelly and who has done nothing but to try and justify his position ever since.
He has spoken out and said that he believes himself to be bound by the Parliamentary rules of honesty, in that he did not lie or fabricate lies about Iraq.
Alistair Campbell stands condemned by his own mouth, whose take on the truth is as moribund and perverted as the Iraqi tyrant he helped to topple.
Political memoirs have never been an index of historical accuracy, but Campell has surely pushed the envelope.
Please imagine seven or eight hours have passed:
ReplyDeleteZounds! Someone has been at my Blogger identity! the code was 1234! How silly of me! i'm an expert on e-campaigning and welcome commissions to help you with yours! But woe is me I never did write that comment! Never did! they've been trying to embarrass me for two days! But I've only just had the 10 seconds required to change it.
Now it's my mother's maiden name, the first name of my first born, or possibly just plain "Bull".
With apologies for this cheeky impersonation to Grant Shhhh Schweppes.
Presume even if the book flops none of the £1m advance is repayable.
ReplyDeleteThe undue haste of its publication immediately after Blairs departure proves again that "a week is a long time in ......"
Lets hope another week sees it all disappear - like Blair!
And now it seems the BBC is to head up its autumn schedule with a series of interviews with Blair. I'm generally a defender of the Beeb and I think that the long interview on Today was justified, given the rigorous line of questioning. But my stomach turns at the thought of the diary programmes - sounds like a private party for Westminster Village People - and frankly I've long had enough of Flash Tony.
ReplyDeleteSuits me. I wasn't going to shell out for a heavily censored version, so this way I get the good bits, such as there are, for free.
ReplyDeleteWe should have only one message for Campbell and that is - Your Diaries are about as believable as your dodgy dossier was.
ReplyDeleteHow the BBC is pandering to this guy is absolutely puke inducing and what's more paying part our licence fee to him for his rubbish is what we would expect from the spineless and "impartial" Beeb. Perhaps they'd like to ask him if he'd like to donate 10% of his royalties and fee to a charity of Dr Kelly's Widow's choice. I won't hold my breath.
Am waiting to buy my remaindered copy of AC's book in Hay on Wye...
ReplyDeleteA typical piece of NuLab - all spin and no delivery, what with the "juicy" bits taken out, no doubt to be followed by a warmed-over rehash of a re-announcement in due course !
ReplyDeleteAlan Douglas
Perhaps the Beeb are being a little smarter than you give them credit for. Having all the juicy bits freely available on the BBC means that lots of people will not buy the book. Net loser - AC from his book deal and bonus per copy sold. Maybe they are shafting him where it hurts - I'd like to think so. Just the same reason that the Tory graph printed so much of the book yesterday - to suppress his sales!As someone else once said 'Follow the money'.
ReplyDeleteSimon Jenkins in Today's Guardian hits the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteThe man most damaged by this book is Tony Blair who employed this Rotweiller and allowed him to sit in on cabinet meetings taking notes. Cabinet ministers had to watch what they said, knowing that Campbell was untouchable, and not to be trusted.
The worst of it was, policies were shaped and simplified, not on merit, but on how they would play with the media the following day.
Having visited at least three bookstores in the last couplre of days. "Flying off the shelves,it ain`t" !
ReplyDeleteNotice price reductions already. Next will be -Three for two- "offers
Which ties nicely into BBC -Blair-Brown-Campbell
JH
Wha-hey! A three part advert for a book! I'm looking forward to the soft focus lens treatment and yelling at the screen later.
ReplyDeleteWhat concerns me is the conflict of interest that any PM now has, with regards to Murdoch - treat him well (don't break the Sky EPG monopoly) and he will pay you a healthy fee for your memoirs.
ReplyDeleteMr Blair may get £5m. Whose to say this is £2-£3 more than the market value ie a big thank you to Blair or any other for leaving him to monopolise.
A clear bribe. Corruption at the top.
Just seen the Alastair Campbell show 1 on BBC2. The Thatcher one was much better, seems the BBC still thinks he works at NO 10. It seemed a bit odd not to have those mentioned state their point of view, not very British I thought.
ReplyDeleteI usually buy new political books
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have deliberately made a vow not to buy that by the odious Campbell
I heard you and Edwina with Bannister yesterday,and achieved a degree of personal closure as Matthew read out my e-mail to close the segment..
ReplyDeleteTo: bannister@bbc.co.uk
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:24 AM
Subject: the ego has landed
Like many, i imagine , i have got REAL problems with the BBC's
strange "love affair" with Alistair Campbell...he is surely a VERY SAD man!...i was glad to hear that he probably had sleepless nights over the "Kelly affair" and the absolute sham of the "Hutton Inquiry" ..just WHO was it that resigned ?..the D.G and Chairman of the BBC..this was a shameful episode...i will not be watching ,buying or reading!!!
Chris Morrell...
That was ,of course my best "indignant" tone, we know about Campbell's mental problems, with which i can empathise..but who can forget the deranged appearance on Channel Four news..and the whole "the BBC lied " vendetta... I wonder if he has any idea how BAD he and Blair still look over this ..I can't imagine that Greg Dyke or Gavin Davis would have sanctioned the amount of air-time this guy is being given , and as has already been said above, this stuff will not change anybody's minds.....is he still threatening them?..i'll never forget the look on Paxmans face when he challenged him ...overall,this material,far from being "bombshell" laden stuff , just seems like self-serving tittle-tattle."The Peoples Princess" and all that.....
he is on with Simon Mayo this afternoon (12/07)...i wonder if he will have the temerity to ask him anything awkward?...
by contrast
Jeremy Greenstock (on Mayo yesterday), has ,apparently been prevented from publishing a book , laying out a factual account of the whole run-up to Iraq nonsense
with the U.N./ WMD ,lack of a plan for Iraq etc..this was just glossed over at the end of the interview..but sounds astonishingly like State Censorship!.he appears to have acquiesced to pressure from
Jack Straw ,and has agreed to wait a while before publishing!!..Greenstock is such a "dry" character ,total opposite to Campbell,methinks that book might be a bit more interesting...
Chris Morrell
I'm still at a loss about the BBC's serialisation.
ReplyDeleteAs ex-BBC I would've had to fight about a thousand other staff to be given the opportunity to kick the obnoxious shit from one end of the UK to the other. Frankly, the sooner the smug twat gets forgotten the better